Let the games begin: Crean

Federal Arts Minister
Simon Crean
claims there is a “strong case" for extending the tax rebate that has saved the local film industry to the games sector to make it a new growth engine.

Mr Crean said he would make the case for the extension of the 40 per cent producer tax rebate – which has secured films ranging from Happy Feet Two (HF2) to The Great Gatsby for Australia despite the exchange rate – as part of the expenditure review committee process before the next budget.

The move follows extensive lobbying by Happy Feet director
George Miller
, who reveals in today’s AFR Magazine he had hoped to bolster production at his Dr D studio in Sydney by branching into games, including the next project from the maker of the hit Australian game LA Noire. A report by PwC predicts the global games industry – worth more than $60 billion, grossing more than films do at the box office – will be worth $90.1 billion in 2015. “It’s an industry that has to be encouraged," Mr Crean said.

“Until I went to George Miller’s studios . . . I hadn’t understood the extension of the film industry to the game industry. I think there’s a strong case for it; it’s a logical extension to what we’ve already proved our worth at and the international market already values." Dr Miller has argued the rebate is necessary to help Australia compete with countries such as Canada, which offers a 40 per cent rebate, competition that has ­decimated the Australian game industry.

While movie-tracking service Box Office Mojo has The Dark Knight starring
Heath Ledger
as the world’s highest grossing film over five days – at $US204 million – it was eclipsed by recently released video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which made $US775 million in the same period.

Dr Miller had hoped to keep Dr D afloat with game work while he waited to make the long-delayed fourth instalment of the Mad Max franchise, Fury Road. But the joint venture established in July 2008 by Dr Miller’s Kennedy Mitchell Miller and Omnilab Media to handle HF2 and FR, which peaked at 670 workers in August, made its remaining longer-contract staff redundant earlier this month.